LOST 2
by edwardsoul
Summary: Bella got her happy ending, leaving Simmons bored at the firm. Hathaway is suspicious, his co-workers are terrible. By chance, ExB introduce him to a certain female vamp. He has dated the world's most beautiful women, but what happens when he meets her?


**I HAVE HOOKED THIS ON TO THE ORIGINAL, TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR ANYONE TRYING TO FIND IT.**

Wow. This sequel has been a long time in coming. I want to thank everyone for keeping this story alive. I don't think a day has gone by that I haven't had some sort of message by way of review or PM about this story. You are all truly amazing.

I have had everything from awesome people translating LOST into other languages, to yucky people plagiarizing my story and calling it theirs. No kidding!

I started this just a few months after LOST, but I didn't think anyone would want to read it. It was just for me. But, I kept writing and many asked for a sequel, so . . . . . . . . If you hate it, I will understand.

**3 REASONS YOU SHOULD NOT READ THIS STORY:**

1. SIMMONS IS THE MAIN CHARACTER, EDWARD AND BELLA ARE ALL THE WAY THROUGH IT, BUT IT IS IN SIMMONS POV.

2. IT HAS BEEN LIKE A YEAR AND A HALF SINCE MANY OF YOU HAVE READ LOST. FOR SOME IT WAS JUST YESTERDAY, BUT FOR THE ORIGINAL READERS, YOU MAY NOT EVEN CARE ANYMORE!

3. I CAN'T THINK OF ANOTHER REASON. SO I GUESS THERE ARE JUST TWO.

To help the original readers, I have given you a quick summary:

Bella and Michael Simmons worked for a NYC firm called Berkshire-Hathaway.

Bella was heartless and vowed to take down C-Corp

Edward was C-Corp (yikes!)

Bella had started to date a hot guy named Thomas Vaughn

Bella ended up breaking Vaughn's heart

Bella gave Edward back his company – after she put Edward through a lot

Bella left to be with Edward after she quit the Firm

Bella and Edward got married (yay!)

E & B set Vaughn up with his first love from High School – Kristin Roberts

Alice is very mad that she was not Bella's bridesmaid – it was Simmons

Lola is the boutique owner who helped Bella pick out her dresses

Rosalie wants Bella's awesomely expensive shoes

- - - - - - -

Simmons is a player, but he is also sweet and intelligent

He is a 6'2 surfer boy from California

He is very hotly handsome

*Lucky for you this story is about 20,000 words shorter than LOST

***THIS STORY IS ALREADY DONE. I WILL UPDATE EVERYDAY!**

**CHAPTER 1 - PHONE CALL**

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

12:47 p.m..

I was timing my lunch hour to the exact second that I would have to walk back into the offices of Berkshire Hathaway. I didn't want to step one foot into that building before I had to. When Bella was here, we would usually grab something quick and eat while we worked. These days, I looked for any excuse to get out of that place for the precious full hour. Anything to get away from the stress. When Bella was here . . . when Bella was here.

I found myself saying that a lot.

It was a mistake to compare things at work to the way they were before she left, but I did it all the time. Back then, work had been so exciting. I had loved it. Relished it. Now, it was drudgery. It was almost painful to get up every morning for another day.

12:48. Time to get up and head back.

I sighed heavily as I paid the tip on my sandwich and coffee and walked out of the Deli. I clenched my teeth. It was January and the cold wind was biting as I hunched down further into my coat. I usually let my scarf hang limply, but now it was a necessity. I wrapped it around my neck and ducked my head into the chill. There was a news stand that was located across the street from the office building, and without really thinking about it, I glanced up at the magazines. The cover of STAR magazine caught my eye and made me stop in my tracks.

"Thomas Vaughn Finds New Love"

_Well, well, _I thought. _He certainly got over Bella fast_.

Vaughn had been broken hearted when Bella ended things. He had sounded frantic the last time I talked to him. I could remember how his voice shook on the phone. He had just heard the news of Bella's marriage and he was beside himself.

I understood his shock.

After all, Bella had just broken up with him four days earlier. Actually, Bella's quick marriage to Edward was a shock to all of us. Now, here was Thomas Vaughn, just a month later, getting his picture taken with some beautiful brunette. I couldn't help myself. I knew I had to get back to the office, but I really wanted to see what the article had to say. I looked from side to side like I was doing something wrong, as I picked up the magazine and began reading.

New York City was buzzing today after Thomas Vaughn was spotted on Saturday night with a gorgeous brunette. Her name is Kristin Roberts (27), from Muncie, Indiana. Roberts and Vaughn were standing outside the Ford Theater in Times Square, and appeared to be much more than acquaintances!

Friends say Vaughn is finally getting over the jolt he received from the surprise wedding of his ex-fiancee, Isabella Swan (25), to an unidentified businessman. In a strange turn of events, the court is not releasing the name of the man that Swan married. It is something totally unheard of, and was sure to come as a shock to Vaughn.

"He was devastated," a family member told STAR. "Thomas was quite shaken by the whole thing."

Undoubtedly, with the news of Swan's resignation as Vice President of Berkshire-Hathaway and her marriage three days later, Vaughn must have realized he had no other choice but to move on.

Swan has not been publicly seen since her private wedding at the courthouse took place.

Michael Simmons (24), Swan's former assistant and former boyfriend, was apparently the only guest at the wedding. He has remained silent about the matter and has refused to comment on Swan, her new husband, or Thomas Vaughn.

I put the magazine down. I was wincing from being labeled as Bella's former boyfriend. Eventhough it was completely untrue, at first it had been sorta great to have my name linked to Bella's. Now, it was just another reason for the staff at work to gossip and snicker behind my back.

_Ha!_ I thought. I'd like to see them try that snickering behind my back if Bella was still here. They had all been terrified of her. _If_ Bella was still here. I sighed hard. I wished that Bella were here. Nothing had been the same since she left.

I missed her terribly.

Since she had left there had not been one shouting match in the conference room, no 5 a.m. meeting to go over strategy one last time, and there had been no middle of the night phone calls from Bella at the office asking my opinion about what the value of the dollar in Prague had on our current client's stock options. There had not been one crying session under a desk either. Things at the firm had become absolutely monotonous and dull. It just wasn't the same.

Suddenly, my phone began to ring. I looked at the number and saw that it was my secretary. I threw the magazine back on the shelf and answered the phone as I began weaving through the cars to cross the street. My secretary informed me that Mr. Hathaway wanted to meet with me.

Great.

I grimaced as I crowded into the already full elevator that would take me to the 42nd floor. As I made my way upward, I tensed with the knowledge that Mr. Hathaway wanted to see me.

I knew exactly why he was calling me to his office.

Ever since Bella left, he had brought me in for a weekly interrogation for the sole purpose of finding out what Bella's next move was. I knew he was desperate to know if she was planning to start up her own firm, or join with a competitor, but he had never come right out and asked me anything specific. I knew he didn't trust me, but I was also the only person close enough to Bella that could give him anything to go on. Personally, I thought he was beginning to lose it.

Someone got off on the 27th floor, and I could feel the heat seeping under my collar. I unwrapped my scarf and loosened my tie to let in a little air. The tension rose the higher I climbed.

It had been a little over a month since Bella's stunt had caused a firestorm at Berkshire-Hathaway and I knew that the only reason I still had my job was because of that affidavit Bella had signed swearing to the fact that I had not been involved in any way in her decision to hand C-CORP back to the Cullens. Sterling Hathaway was looking for any reason to kick me to the curb. I was very aware of that fact.

It was bad enough, I thought, that although I had been the obvious choice to take Bella's place as Vice President, that Hathaway had gone in a different direction and hired one of the German affiliates to come in and "Restore the luster and grandeur that was tarnished by Isabella Swan," was how he had put it.

What Hathaway really meant was that this Hans Grunderman character was so mean that even his own family couldn't stand to be around him. He had been divorced five times and all his children had taken their mother's last name. His parents had moved to Finland and hadn't spoken to him in eleven years. But I, Michael Simmons, would be working intensely with him on a daily basis.

Mr. Hathaway's secretary announced me. I stopped just outside the door and straightened my tie. I rubbed my temples. I could feel a pretty good headache coming on. I took a deep breath and walked in.

He was seated behind his massive desk holding a glass filled with some sort of clear liquid. I would bet anyone a million dollars that it wasn't water. My guess was scotch - straight. He had become a world class drinker since Bella's lovely stunt.

"Sit down, Simmons," he growled.

There were two chairs in front of his desk. I walked up and chose the chair that was slightly farther away from him.

He began talking before I had even sat all the way down.

"How is Reynolds doing with the Nom -Tech merger?"

"Just fine, sir."

I knew he was moving slowly at first, and would soon start in on the real reason he sent for me.

He took another swig of the toxic substance in his glass and then said, "Is Reynolds up to the task of dealing with the press? When they catch wind of our firm's involvement they are sure to want an interview."

"Well sir," I replied. "He handled the press with ease when he was head of the Broder case, but I will prep him and make sure he is ready."

Hathaway took a large, labored breath and looked up at the ceiling for a moment before bringing his face down to meet mine.

"Have you heard from Swan?" He asked flatly.

_Here we go_, I thought.

"No sir." I tried to sound disinterested. "I still haven't heard from her since the last time Harry Banks called."

He looked at me through red, glassy eyes as I continued to explain, "That matter has been completed, and I believe she has severed all ties to this firm. I would guess she is still on her honeymoon."

He flinched when I said the word "honeymoon" and put down his empty glass. He rubbed his puffy eyes and looked down at his desk. He looked battered and saggy. He took a haggard breath and then with trepidation asked me another question. It seemed to take great courage for him to ask me.

"Simmons, she took her list of contacts with her when she left. What do you think the chances are of her starting up another firm here in the City and competing against us?"

Finally.

After four weeks of this he finally had the nerve to just come out and ask me what he really wanted to know. I saw sweat above his upper lip. All this time he had been worried that the most heartless and ruthless she-devil in New York was planning on going against him. It didn't hurt that she was young and beautiful. Maybe, if I had all his stress it would drive me to drink too. Especially since he had intended on putting that beautiful she-devil's name on the building right after his.

I sat motionless. I wasn't sure how to handle this situation. Did he think I was secretly plotting something with Bella? Did he think that I was planning on joining Bella if she returned?

I would.

I would be out of here before he could reach for that bottle of scotch.

I decided to go with honesty. At least for now.

"I have had absolutely no contact with her, Mr. Hathaway. I haven't got a clue about her plans, or if she even has any plans to return to New York."

He stared at me, and I stared back unflinchingly. His left eye tightened as he continued watching me. It was like two gunfighters staring each other down before they each reached for their weapon. Finally, he blew out a rush of air and said, "Fine, Simmons. You can go."

I stood up and strode quickly out of the room and exhaled deeply as I made my way to my office. It appeared I was safe, at least for another week. It suddenly occurred to me that he could have someone watching me, following me. I shook my head. Now who was paranoid?

My secretary handed me a stack of messages. I boringly thumbed through them until I found one that caught my eye. Lanita had called. Ah, this was my first good news on this Monday. Her call meant she must be back from that Sports Illustrated swimsuit photo shoot in Peru. She was an exotic beauty from Belize. She had great dark brown eyes and she spoke with an amazingly sexy accent that was a mix of Spanish and Creole. Maybe this day would end much better than it began.

My cell phone rang and I groaned. It was my mother. There was never an easy way to talk to my Mom. She was always probing, digging for details that I didn't want to share. I knew that she was disappointed that I had chosen this line of work. She didn't find it stable. I could hear her now. "Michael, dear. Are you still doing that money thing? Move back here and settle down with a nice girl." My parents still lived in Newport Beach. My all too perfect older brother lived just 15 minutes away. Perfect wife, perfect kids, perfect everything. I pushed the ignore button and got to work.

I got home a little before 7:00 p.m., and planned on picking up Lanita in about an hour. I was about to take a shower when I heard my phone ringing. I didn't recognize the number or the area code, so I let the machine take it. I heard the beep and ducked my head out of the bedroom to hear the message when I heard Bella's voice on the speaker. I dove for the phone.

"Bella!" I cried.

"Simmons. I am glad to see that you would still answer the phone even though you knew it was me," she said.

"Why wouldn't I answer the phone?" I asked in a surprised voice.

"Well," she began. "I have caused you quite a bit of trouble. I read about Hans Grunderman. Tough break."

It was so good to hear her voice. I wanted so much to ask her when or even _if_ she was coming back. "So, how is the honeymoon?" I asked.

There was a long pause on the other end. When she finally spoke, it was all breathless and airy. I could hear the smile in her voice.

"It's wonderful."

I remembered seeing them on the dance floor in the Rainbow Room, and the way they looked at each other at the wedding. I was pretty sure I had a firm grip on how the honeymoon was going. It was a stupid question to ask anyway. I cleared my throat and asked a much more useful question.

"So, what's up? Are you coming back soon?"

"Yes, I am," she said in a matter of fact tone. "Edward and I are going to be in town this weekend. We're going to pack up my apartment. I will be ending my lease at the end of January. I was hoping you would come over and help so we could see you one more time."

_One more time? Why just one more time?_ I wondered_._

"That would be great," I said.

"We will be at the apartment on Saturday. Can you come over then?"

Bella sounded so happy. "You bet. I'll be there." I tried to sound happy too.

"By the way," she said. "Edward's sister, Alice will be there. Try not to take it too personally if she acts a little angry towards you. She'll get over it."

"Angry? Bella, why should Edward's sister be angry at me?" I squeaked. How big was Edward's family anyway?

Bella ignored my question as she continued. "Oh, and Rosalie will be there too. She doesn't fully trust me on the shoe thing. You might notice a slight hostility on the part of Rosalie as well. Don't take it personally. She won't get over it. That's just the way she is."

Who the heck was Rosalie? What was the shoe thing?

"Simmons, you still there?" Bella asked.

"Yeah, Bella, I'm here. What time should I come over?"

"Whenever. We'll be starting early. Just come when you can, and Simmons, thanks so much! It'll be great to see you!" Then she hung up.

I went back to the bathroom lost in my thoughts of Bella giving up her apartment and leaving New York. She made it sound like I would never see her again. I wondered if there was any chance I could talk her into staying. I had a few ideas. Maybe we could talk before she really said good-bye.

All of the sudden the prospect of seeing Lanita didn't thrill me. I knew why. Just talking to Bella on the phone was a thousand times more exciting than a night with Lanita.

I knew that the way I acted towards Bella had led many people to the mistaken notion that I had feelings for her. Heck, even STAR magazine was telling everyone that we had dated. Just for the record, I am not, nor have I ever been, in love with Bella. Okay, when I first met her I was . . . well, to say the least, very interested.

That lasted about three days.

My interest in her lasted just long enough for her fangs to sink into me when I asked her if it was really necessary that a report she demanded from me contain so much detail about the company that it would take 10 people at least a month to gather it all. She ordered me to have it on her desk the following Tuesday. With no help.

Just me.

I am totally serious.

I still remember how her eyes flared when she tore into me. I don't think she took a breath for three minutes straight while she ripped me apart. I remember the exact moment my adjectives describing her changed from captivating, stunning and fascinating, to words I would never say in front of my mother. Luckily, I later had the chance to prove myself to her and gain her respect. I also got to see the more human side of her as time went on, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The attributes I found in Bella were hard to explain. She challenged me. She kept me on my toes. She made me want to be better than I was. It wasn't that I was in love with Bella. What I missed was the excitement and sarcasm. The adrenaline and energy she inspired in me. I was especially intrigued the last few months when I saw the real Bella emerge. I was amazed at her strength and vivacity. She was like the best friend that I never knew I wanted. I didn't want Bella, but I knew that I did want someone like her.

I would miss her.

I sighed as I turned the shower on.

It was Monday night. Saturday couldn't come fast enough for me.

**I really hope that you will give this story a chance even though it is in Simmons' POV. I need to hear what you all are thinking, so please let me know! Next chapter tomorrow! **


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